Online Marketing Blog | Silverback Strategies

New Google Ranking Signals

2012-01-03T19:16:08Z

Back in August Rand Fishkin from SEOmoz posted an interesting article called “A Theory About Google: Authenticity and Passion as Ranking Signals”. The article reviews a certain occurrence that many of us in the SEO field have been noticing.

“Over the past 6-9 months, I've been getting the sense that there's something new in Google's algorithm - a metric or set of metrics that looks for some form of authenticity in a site and passion in the content created on a page.”

Rand speaks about passion factors playing a role in this change but doesn't theorize how Google may using the information in rankings.

The overall concept makes complete sense. Sometimes powerhouse websites produce low quality content just as low powered personal blogs can sometimes produce extraordinarily useful information. Google has to account for this in order to ensure the best results are shown when someone searches.

Here are two ways Google may be accomplishing this goal.

The Starbucks Effect

In Rand’s example he searched for the phrase “Seattle Waterfront Walk” and a fairly unknown personal blog pops up in the second spot. Why? Well this is what I like to call the Starbucks effect.

Websites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Google/Yahoo local are like the Starbucks of the internet. Often when people conduct local searches they do a good job of taking over all available landscape. This is ok when looking for a store on the fly but it can become stifling when simply searching for local information.

Blogs are almost like the “mom and pop” stores of the internet. Google can recognize that “Seattle Waterfront Walk” is a search most likely looking for location specific information. So where’s the best place to find it? Google picked out a personal blog written by a photographer residing in Seattle instead of much more authoritative national “Starbucks-like” websites.

In the above picture you can see how the blog links directly to his Blogger profile. Since Blogger is owned by Google it's an easy way for them to get a general idea of a blog's location.

Standard Deviation of Article Quality

Let's look at a hypothetical scenerio of how viral content signals may look very different depending on the website size.

Pretend the average Mashable article receives 1,500 social shares and 50 backlinks (again, hypothetical statistics).

Now pretend there's a personal blog covering the same industry averaging 90 social shares and 4 backlinks per post (equal quality to Mashable’s).

One day they happen to publish an article simultaneously that covers identical topics. After two days the Mashable article receives 700 social shares and 40 links. The personal blog post receives 300 social shares and 15 links. The Mashable article has received over twice as many shares and links as the other post; but will it rank higher?

In this scenario, when you compare the article to Mashable’s entire website it becomes apparent it’s only half as popular as their average article. Conversely, the personal blog article was over three times more popular than the average article on their site.

In order to show the best possible results Google must continually determine which pages contains better content and then rank them accordingly. Google’s algorithm runs in a very logical manner. It would be very easy to make the argument that in certain circumstances a very popular article on a small site should outrank a subpar article on a larger well known site. This is also a very scalable metric to incorporate (always important to Google) and could be accomplished by including a few site wide standard deviation measurements into their algorithm.

As for what this all means: well, I think Rand said it best "if writing passionate, authentic content on more personal, unique sites can earn more mojo in search, I'd say that's a win for everyone." Cheers to Google for finding new ways to unearth these great pieces of content hidding throughout the internet.

Google’s Search Ads Pause Study

2011-11-15T16:46:12Z

“Why should I pay for Google ads if I already rank in the organic results? Won’t the user just click on my organic link instead?”

We get this question all the time from clients. In PPC, it can be really difficult to separate personal search habits from how everyone else searches, which can often be wildly different. Our performance data has always shown that more leads can be picked up by utilizing both paid advertisements as well as organic rankings on Google, but this was difficult to translate to clients, as our data set was never quite large enough to prove significant. Lucky for us, Google is very good at crunching large datasets, and they did just that to answer this exact question.

Recently, Google conducted a study titled "Search Ads Pause Study," in which it looked at over 400 accounts across four countries in which it looked to use statistical models to answer the simple question: Are ads necessary when organic presence is high? Because of our previous experience we already knew the answer yes, but we had no idea it was to the extent that Google found.

Here is a fun video Google put together explaining the study and its results.

On average, 89% of paid traffic to an advertiser’s site is lost and not recovered by organic clicks.

Wait a minute… 89%? That’s HUGE!

The issue is we all suffer from a personal bias in which we believe everyone searches the way we do. We may have never clicked a Google ad in our lives, but the $92+ Billion Google made last year would argue that plenty of people click on those ads. This is just another reminder of the importance of data and the need to base decisions not on our own personal beliefs, but on the hard data.

Silverback Strategies speaks at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business

2011-11-09T19:02:10Z

Silverback Strategies was recently invited to speak to students of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. We sat down with one particular class to take a look at trends in search marketing, its history and current best practices in organic and paid search.

Course students included diverse marketing and business majors, many of whom are already working in the field. Some were new to SEM, others were very technically sophisticated.

“Any time we speak, the most important message we can convey is how dynamic SEM is. You can’t set-it-and-forget-it,” said Nelson. “Major shifts like Google’s Panda update and continual algorithm changes are continually shaking things up in this business. Anyone who is going into SEM needs to understand that environment to be successful.”

Panda is the name of Google’s latest major algorithm update that radically changed how Google ranks websites. The new algorithm puts far more emphasis on content quality and other characteristics that align with actual user priorities.

“Google changes their algorithm nearly 500 times each year, so we must continually adjust our clients’ search strategies to maintain their rankings,” adds Nelson. “There are literally hundreds of content, linking, and architectural factors that go into the ranking formula – and I think that came as a surprise to some of these students.”

Not surprisingly, the Georgetown students were particularly intrigued at how social sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and emerging social media such as Google+ are becoming increasingly influential to search results.

“Our goal was to leave these students with a basic understanding of today’s search landscape and to start a smart conversation that could hopefully bring some real value to their careers as future marketers,” says Welsh.

Good Web Design Practices for Jump-starting your Online Presence

2011-09-28T13:41:39Z

As businesses continue to place an emphasis on having stronger virtual presences, there is no question that the Internet has become a truly global market. As the competition grows in this global marketplace, these businesses are looking to gain an advantage any way they can. One of the most common (and practical) tactics companies are turning to is creating an edge through the use of good design. In the latest issue of the magazine Fast Company, an article entitled “The United States of Design” summed this idea up perfectly.

“Design is differentiation made visible, visceral, and experiential,” says Mark Payne, president of creative agency Fahrenheit 212. “Creativity and innovation are emerging as disciplines because we have no other choice.”

In the Internet world, a company’s website design is usually the first thing someone notices. So if having a creative and innovative website design is the key to success in the online world, then shouldn’t every business following that strategy be thriving? If only it were that easy. Of course, just having a creative and innovative design alone will not guarantee success at all; there are a variety of other factors that go into making a web design stand out in a positive light (this would also be the part of the blog article where I post a screenshot of an ugly website design, but I will refrain due to possible legal ramifications – just Google “ugly website” and you’ll get the idea).

One of the most obvious and glaring factors is the aesthetics and general layout of a website. In other words, make sure it’s not going to show up when you Google “ugly website.” Instead, focus on a design that appeals to your audience while still matching your company brand. Most often, this includes a clean layout that’s easy to read and not too crowded and overloaded with information. Think of the phrase “less is more” because believe it or not, it’s actually true and it works.

Another key factor is ease of use. Want to know the secret of how Apple, Google, and Facebook got to where they are now? Simple…they are easy to use. On the other end of the spectrum, a website such as MySpace got more convoluted and overloaded with distractions as the years went on. Now, they’re on the borderline of shutting down all together while Facebook continues to grow as the most popular social networking site. Coincidence? Hardly. With so much going on in today’s society, people do not have time to sit down and learn how to use a website. They need to be able to visit it for the first time and pick it up right away. Are visitors able to find your website and navigate throughout all of the pages quickly, or do they just give up trying to find what they’re looking for and instead head to your competitor’s site? Make sure it’s not the latter. Simple and innovative can certainly go hand-in-hand.

Here’s something else to think about: Say you have an amazing, beautiful, easy-to-use website that people really want to see, but for whatever reason it just won’t load on a visitor’s screen. Who is to blame in that situation? It’s certainly not the visitor. For example, if your website is built with Adobe Flash, you may be out of luck. Many mobile devices such as iPhones and iPads are not compatible with Flash websites. Considering mobile Internet usage will soon outnumber standard Internet usage, those who have Flash websites may want to reconsider. Making sure the masses are able to access your website is just as important with the way it looks; you can’t have one without the other.

Having a website design that is creative and innovative while still being compatible and appealing to a large scale audience can definitely be a fine line to balance. However, if it is done properly it can prove to be highly rewarding, because as American history shows, “when innovation has been married to good design, it has yielded unprecedented growth.”

SMX East 2011 Review

2011-09-16T13:05:21Z

SMX East Review and Tips

This week I made my way up to SMX East 2011 with two others from the Silverback crew. It’s no secret that conferences can get very pricey and if you throw in travel expenses, food, and lodging the cost can get even more extreme. That’s why before any large conference it seems the same question always pops up: Is this conference worth going to?

After spending the day up in New York we decided to share some of our likes and dislikes of SMX East. We also answer the infamous question of "if it’s worth it" and thrown in a few conference tips in case you decide to check it out for yourself.

SMX Review

The Likes:

SEO and PPC Specific

There are thousands and thousands of conferences out there, and they cover all different topics. The amount of information you pull from a digital marketing conference compared to a search marketing conference can be drastic. If you are in a very niche specific industry you should go to a very niche specific conference. SMX did a great job staying on track with SEO and PPC.

Up-to-Date Topics and a Look at What’s to Come

Many sessions were about the current and future Google+ implications throughout the industry. They also preached on the huge impact schema.org could play within the next year (which I completely agree with.) One of the most impressive sessions I sat in on actually walked through dynamic page creation based off visitor information mined from Facebook.

The Great Speakers

Many of the speakers gave incredibly useful information in a compelling and attention grabbing way.

Representatives Speaking from Large Companies

What do Adobe, IBM, Dell, Citibank, AOL, Bloomberg, Intuit, and Yahoo have in common? They all had representatives presenting while we were at SMX.

Food, Drinks, Coffee, and Even a Little Booze

It’s an all-day conference so kudos to SMX for providing an endless supply of coffee and snacks to help people stay focused. The lunch was also above average for a conference and at the end of the day everyone was able to use their two alcohol drink tickets to help wind down the day.

Free WiFi

I know, I know…it’s a search marketing expo and providing free WiFi should be common sense. That doesn’t mean it always happens.

Didn’t Overly Self Promote

The SMX conference is put together by Search Engine Land. I’m a big fan of SEL as a resource, but I’m always wary of conferences that may be partial to pushing their own products, services, and information. I was overly impressed with this aspect of the conference. SEL did a great job using their website to promote SMX, but they specifically made sure not to turn around and use the conference to promote their own company. SEL kept it a one-way street which gives the conference even more credibility.

The Dislikes:

Smaller Turnout than Expected

I was planning to see a larger number of people and vendors at SMX. Granted, this was only SMX East. I suspect that SMX West or SMX Advanced which is in Seattle are both probably larger conferences.

The Not-so-Great Speakers

You have to take the good with the bad, and not everyone there was a professional speaker. This comes with the territory, but it still had to be mentioned. I wonder if some people were asked to speak solely based on their company and title, rather than seeing if they had any public speaking experience.

“Advanced” Sessions Giving Very Basic Information

I set up my day trying to target only the advanced SEO sessions. One thing I notices was many of the sessions spent valuable time covering very general and simplistic concepts.

Speakers Didn’t Prep with Each Other

We all know that SEO is an ever-changing concept and there are very few definites, that being said, it would be nice if some of the speakers had collaborated more to come up with group game plans for each session. I sat through one session where a person spoke for twenty minutes and then the following speaker began by telling everyone to never do any of the things the first speaker recommended. I’m all for some constructive disagreements, but when people walk out more confused than when they walked in…it’s never a good sign.

Was it worth it?

In my opinion, it definitely was. I would say about 80% of the information I heard were things I either already knew or could easily find rummaging around online. The other 20% was information that was both extraordinarily useful and not readily available. This chunk of information was enough to make the entire conference worthwhile. There was also the added benefit of making quality connections through networking.

Conference Tips:

Diversify if you’re with a Group

If you go with other people, make sure to split up. Each time slot has multiple unique sessions. Splitting up allows you to cover as much ground as possible so you can regroup later to collaborate on what you’ve learned.

Research the Speakers

How good a speaker is will make or break a session. Your goal is to find sessions that:

1.) Cover topics that are relevant to you

2.) Are conducted by speakers who actually impart valuable information

Find out if they have ever presented before. See if they’re recommended. Maybe you can even find a past presentation on YouTube. You will definitely get a lot more value out of the conference if you do a small amount of scouting ahead of time.

Expand your Network

You are in a building with some of the smartest people in the industry. Don’t leave before doing a little shaking hands and kissing babies. Conferences are social gatherings of people who have a common interest…so be social, and whatever you do, don’t run out of business cards.

Google to Begin Reviewing Paused Ads

2011-09-07T19:52:08Z

Typically, Google Adwords is the most efficient advertising platform to get your ads placed on the SERP’s. But at select points throughout the year – major holidays and seasonal events – the ad-review process can be a pain-point as it slows to a crawl. If you are an experienced search marketer with a diverse client-base, you understand the pains of the ad-review process during those particular times of year. But Google has come up with a system that is more practical, so you don’t have to worry about sluggish ad-approvals – especially for all those time-sensitive campaigns.

What's the change? Google will begin reviewing paused ads in the same way they review active ones. The search giant said the change was made to "eliminate unnecessary delays in getting your ads approved and to ultimately enhance your experience with Google Adwords."

If you create a group of campaigns for an account and decide to turn on only half of the campaigns, the ads that are left paused will go through the same review process as the ads you turned on. When you're eventually ready to turn on those paused campaigns, sometime down the road, they'll have already been through the approval process - paused, approved, and ready for activation.

It's not Google's most revolutionary change, but it's a logical change that I certainly think it will make life for the common PPC'er a bit easier. When you have a client that wants to set up a special campaign for a product release or a current event, you can have that campaign built and ready to turn on, without the stress of the approval process.

The Future of Websites – Do you have the Best HTML5 Browser Support?

2011-08-25T19:53:45Z

HyperText Markup Language, more commonly known as HTML, is the programming language that acts as the most common building block for every webpage. Some people may realize that HTML has been updated to newer versions as the Internet has matured. However, what many people don’t realize is the fact that a “new version” of HTML has not been released to the public in over 10 years. That fact is rather astonishing when you think about how much the entire landscape of the Internet has evolved over that time, from multimedia to web design to apps.

In the past, almost every web browser has had huge discrepancies when it came to reading and interpreting HTML. This caused websites to be displayed much differently than what was originally intended. As a result, web designers and developers needed to put in hours upon hours of extra work to ensure that each web page looked uniform no matter what type of web browser a visitor was using.

Thankfully, this will all soon be a thing of the past. HTML5 is being adopted by more and more websites everyday. What sets HTML5 apart from its previous editions is the fact that it is based on two very common principles: simplicity and uniformity. These two principles are so important, that even rival companies (Microsoft – Internet Explorer, Mozilla – Firefox, Google – Chrome, etc.) are working together to ensure users have the best web browsing experiences moving forward.

This all sounds too good to be true, right? Actually, no web browser is fully HTML5 compliant just yet. Browsers are working issue on this by issuing updates often. By using the HTML5 Test, you can quickly and easily see how your web browser stacks up against the others with the new technology.

As it turns out, the web browser I’m using (Google Chrome) scored a 341 out of a possible 450 points. The 450 points indicate how well a browser supports the current HTML5 standards. The higher the points, the more supportive of HTML5 your web browser is.

Here is a look at how the current web browsers compare to each other:

As any web developer knows far too well, there are always users out there who seem to be stuck in the past. By past, of course I mean users still trudging along with Internet Explorer 6 or 7. Taking a look at the chart below, it’s pretty clear that some are in desperate need of an upgrade.

So, do you have the best HTML5 browser support? Those who upgrade will be glad they did, I promise.

LinkedIn SEO: New Skills & Expertise Beta Pages

2011-08-09T17:34:34Z

Just the other day LinkedIn rolled out a few aesthetic tweaks along with a brand new feature that has plenty of search implications.

If you haven't logged in over the last couple days it'll immediately ask you to update the new “Skills” section. This is where you're able to add up to 50 targeted keywords into your profile.

LinkedIn Skills

The initial popup only has room to add three skills. Once the three are added, you will need to scroll down into your profile to the skills section to add additional keywords.

Adding New Skills

Once you click "Edit" or "+ Add a skill" it will take you to the page similar to the screenshot below:

Add the skills you’d like to associate with yourself and then save your changes. Take a look at your updated profile and try hovering over a few of the skills you've just added.

Hovering Over Skills

When you roll over any skill it will pull extra information about the keyword. Once you click on any particular skill it will lead to the new "Skills & Expertise" beta pages.

LinkedIn Skills & Expertise Pages

These "Skills & Expertise" pages are a great compilation of useful info. The page highlights authorities about the keyword, associated LinkedIn groups, current job openings, statistics, as well as related terms and companies. It’s the perfect place to get an overview of the LinkedIn landscape for any certain industry.

Here's a look at the layout of the new beta pages currently being tested:

Right in the center of the page is a section highlighting industry authorities along with links to their LinkedIn profiles.

LinkedIn SEO Professionals

So what does it take to be one of the featured LinkedIn professionals? From what I can tell it's a combination of factors. My first thought was it relied heavily on number of recommendations. This doesn't seem to be the leading factor judging by the total count of the top four people who came up for the keyword "SEO".

Rand Fishkin: 12 Recommendations

Michael Gray: 19 Recommendations

Jeremy Schoemaker: 7 Recommendations

Andy Beal: 35 Recommendations

Not a great correlation so I then turned my attention to a larger scale measure of authority. Just recently LinkedIn became one of the sources in the algorithm for Klout. It's possible LinkedIn used the final score as an overall measure of that person's online authority.

Rand Fishkin: 78 Klout Score

Michael Gray: 71 Klout Score

Jeremy Schoemaker: 61 Klout Score

Andy Beal: 69 Klout Score

Close, but it's not perfect. One thing each of these profiles share is they all contain over 500 connections, but I highly doubt total connections is the end-all calculation. I suspect there are many areas that come into play. The number of connections, number of recommendations, power/authority of connections and recommendations, user's activity on LinkedIn, profile page content, and possibly an outside factor like Klout score. It honestly wouldn't surprise me if the top few professionals on high traffic keywords get hand-picked by LinkedIn. Having Rand and Michael leading the SEO list gives it instant credibility. Either way, working your way onto the first page of an authority list would be a great goal for personal reputation and branding purposes.

I would certainly recommend checking out the new changes and adding keywords to your profile. It'll help your optimization for LinkedIn searches, and who knows...maybe you'll be the next top professional in your own industry Skills & Expertise page.

Google Plus: Where are all of the business pages?

2011-07-21T20:32:23Z

Google+ (not to be confused with the new Google +1 button) has recently burst onto the social networking scene, gaining over 10 million signups in just the first few weeks. It is already the 42^nd most visited site in the United States. However, many businesses are starting to notice one glaring flaw: Google+ is currently only set up for personal profiles only.

Sure, businesses could try to set up a Google+ profile now if they really wanted to, but it probably won’t be sticking around for too long, as Google has already begun deleting non-human profiles.

After the huge success companies have seen on other popular social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, how could Google overlook the impact business profiles could potentially bring?

As it turns out, they’re not overlooking them at all.

They have already started the process of testing a select number of “non-user entities,” more commonly known as company profiles. If you’re a business, you have to be elated by this news. Need a reason why? Just think about the integration Google has done with businesses lately in the form of Google Places. Concept images like the one below show many, many more possibilities.

Google said they hope to release Google+ for businesses sometime this year. When they do, companies will not want to miss out on it.

Google Announces “+1’s” Integration into Adwords

2011-06-29T18:48:09Z

I have to be honest – this whole “+1” thing doesn’t have my heart racing. I mean, there’s nothing new here, right? Facebook started the “Like” button a while ago and Google’s version doesn’t appear to be groundbreaking. But the think-tankers over at Google definitely know their shit so the “+1” could be paid advertising’s next big thing.

First off, what is “+1”?

“+1” is Google’s first step in joining the world of social media. As I mentioned above, Facebook has the “Like” button, well Google now has the “+1” button. For example, you visit a hotel in Washington D.C. over the 4^th of July and have a great experience there -- comfortable beds, helpful concierge, and room service at any time of the night. Months later you are returning to the Nation’s Capital and are reminded of this great place by one of their internet ads. You were so impressed by their French dip at 3 in the morning you decide to hit the “+1” located right next to the ad. That “+1” will be shared with your Google contacts if and when they come in contact with that same ad. It will say something like “Joe +1’d this page”. The idea is to spread the word with your friends about things that you like, to help make search easier.

Why should you care?

This social-search innovation will be a good addition to your Adwords ads. I certainly don’t think it will revolutionize the industry and it won’t turn a terrible campaign into gold. But I do believe it will give an added boost to campaigns, improve click through and response rates, and take up a wee bit more page real estate – which are all good for you. And for those concerned about negative implications need not fret. Google has said that “+1” will not impact quality scores. So if your ads aren’t getting “+1’d” all the time, your ad rank will not suffer.

What do you have to do?

Nothing. Google will automatically integrate the “+1” button to Adwords ads, unlike organic ads which require a snippet of code on your site.

I see two possibilities here. One is that this doesn’t have any effect on your ads or campaigns. Google said it won’t negatively implicate your ads so that takes the stress out of it right there. The other possibility is the “+1” button gives your campaign a little jolt with some increased click through rates and better page recognition.

In the end, what at first seemed like nothing to get excited about, turns into a no-lose scenario with no effort on your part. Those are the types of innovations we can all get behind.

Working with Google Adwords Ad Extensions

2011-05-12T19:28:40Z

Learning a few “tricks of the trade” can greatly enhance your adwords results. One fairly new adwords method that has been completely underutilized by many google adwords management professionals is ad extensions. Ad extensions are an amazing way to “expand a standard text ad with one or more lines that provide additional information such as an address and phone number (location extensions and phone extensions), more page links (ad sitelinks), and product images (product extensions).” (adwords.google.com) If your campaign is performing less than expected, I urge you to listen up and learn some ad extension basics.

Sitelink Extensions

Sitelinks are quite possibly the greatest add-on since the inception of adwords. Sitelinks extend your ads value by adding additional links to other relevant landing pages on your site. A study performed by searchenginepeople.com shows that click through rates increased dramatically and conversion rates were also boosted (up to 60% in one case). Notice below how the sitelinks allow for additional links relevant to the users search query - a better, more efficient experience.

Phone Extensions

Phone extensions have been another great addition to ad extensions. Unfortunately, phone extensions haven’t been rolled out to all users, but adwords has granted allowance for random campaigns. Phone extensions allow a searcher to call you directly from your ad without the extra step of clicking. Google will generate a toll free number for you, redirecting to your local number when dialed. Adwords has also added phone call metrics to the interface allowing you to see start and end time, the duration of the call, and the area code that they called from. Check out the image below for an example of phone extensions.

Location Extensions

Location extensions are crucial for successful local adwords campaigns. When a user searches for something that triggers your ad, a local address will appear along with the text ad extending your ad. And the location extensions will only pop-up when the search and location of the searcher is relevant.

Product Extensions

Product extensions are an awesome way to enrich a search experience for a google searcher. Combining your google adwords search ads with your google merchant account, you are able to highlight products in the actual ads, as seen below. Not only does it allow you to capitalize on a large amount of page real estate, goblogin.com has reported higher click-through rates and higher conversion rates.

So the secret is out – using adwords ad extensions will dramatically improve your campaign’s performance. Without the asterisks or the controversy, ad extensions are like putting your adwords campaign on steroids. They'll keep you performing at the highest level while most adwords managers are still struggling to catch up.

Online Advertising Effects In-Store Sales

2011-04-08T14:06:49Z

Have you ever considered the full power of online advertising? Google has recently teamed up with an outside firm to quantify exactly how impactful online advertising can be, not only through the Internet, but through in-store traffic and sales as well. That’s right, advertising online has proven to influence in-store sales!

Highlights of the study include “in-store sales lifts, return on ad spend (15:1 in some cases) and halo effects on sales overall.” Check out the video below to get an idea of the value of Internet search campaigns. (adwords.blogspot.com)

We are constantly exclaiming the benefits of online advertising, especially Google Adwords –and this study is an amazing testimony to why businesses should now, more than ever, advertise their products/services on the Internet. If your business is still living in the dark ages, struggling each day to compete, consider the power and influence online ads can have on your overall business.

Take Control Of Your Product Listing Ads With Negative Keywords

2011-03-11T15:33:26Z

Product Listing Ads on Google AdWords were released to all US Advertisers last November. While the jury may not yet be out on the overall effectiveness of this new ad type are, it is indeed an interesting concept that has the potential to drive very highly qualified traffic to your website. While many advertisers are currently testing this new ad option, Google is obviously tyring to bolster its capabilities by including new features to help advertisers get the most out of product listing ads.

The newest feature, Product Listing Ad Negative Keywords, was released today by google to all US advertisers. Because product listing ads are not set up using keyword lists (they use the new 'product targets' instead) there was no good way of controlling which searches you didn't want your product ads to appear for. Although Google does a good job of assumining relevancy, there are many times (aka broad match keywords) where Google may take a little too much liberty when deciding to show an ad for a specific query. The addition of these negative keywords for product listing ads is a welcome addition to all adwords advertisers, as they can now reduce the amount of unqualified clicks (aka wasted money) that occur with product listing ads.

To learn more about Product Listing Ads in AdWords, and a few best practices for them, check out Google's Guide to Product Listing Ads.

Using Negative Keywords to Improve Performance

2011-03-08T17:13:50Z

An important aspect of executing a successful PPC campaign is finding and implementing “negative keywords” into your campaigns and ad groups. Too often, negative keywords are overlooked resulting in unwanted clicks and wasted money. So before you jump into your next PPC account, take a few minutes to learn what negative keywords are and how implementing them into your practices will boost your performance.

What are negative keywords?

Negative keywords are used to filter words and phrases that are irrelevant to the product or service being advertised. Often, negative keywords can be associated with a product or service but are not always applicable to the one being advertised. For example, a self-storage company advertising storage units has been receiving multiple clicks for the term “storage auctions.” In this case, we can include the keyword “auctions” in our negative keyword list because this word draws in unwanted clicks.

How to find negative keywords?

Finding negative keywords is simple. One way to find negative keywords is by using Google’s keyword tool. Pull up the keyword tool and add some of the words/phrases you are hoping to be found for. Google will give you hundreds, sometimes thousands, of keywords that could be relevant to your queries. Scroll down the list and pick out words that you believe are unnecessary or irrelevant to your keywords. You can manually add these negative keywords to your campaign or you can do it right from the tool.

Another way to find negative keywords is to run a search query report using historical keyword data. A search query report will generate the keywords used to find your ads. Look for words that have triggered your ads to appear that are irrelevant to your campaign. Make a list and manually add them to the campaigns and/or ad groups to which they belong.

A third great resource for finding negative keywords is Google’s Wonder Wheel. The Wonder Wheel is a suggestion tool that can be integral in your keyword building process. The wheel shows similar, relevant searches that could be performed based on the search query you initially put in. Many of the suggestions the wheel gives you can be used as actual keywords but many will be better for negatives.

Adding negative keywords to your campaign will result in more qualified traffic, increasing click-through rates and hopefully conversions as well!

New Ways To Use Phone Call Tracking With Your AdWords Campagins

2011-03-02T14:50:46Z

Conversion tracking is a great way to help determine the performance of an AdWords campaign. The ability to attribute desired actions taken by a user on a client’s website to a campaign, ad group, ad, and even a keyword, helps a PPC manager make informed decisions on the best way to optimize a campaign.

Conversion tracking does not come without some limitations however. The most glaring example of this is the natural inability of AdWords conversion tracking to track a user who clicks a PPC ad, visits the website, and ultimately calls the business using the phone number provided on the website. Merely utilizing the AdWords conversion tracking code makes tracking a phone call generated from AdWords impossible. This was a big problem for PPC agencies, as many case studies have proven that an additional 30-50%+ of conversions were not being correctly attributed to AdWords because the user called the business instead of finishing an “online conversion.”

Google has been aware of this issue for a long time and in November 2010 released a new feature in AdWords which allowed AdWords advertisers to place a phone number next to their AdWords ads, which if called would forward to the phone number of the respective business, thus allowing AdWords to effectively track phone calls generated from AdWords ads.

“This is great!” Shouted PPC agencies all across the land. “Now we can properly attribute phone calls generated from PPC ads back to our own initiatives!” And for a time, it was good.

Today Google has announced additional features to be added to this call tracking that allow advertisers to dig deeper into their call metrics with new detailed call reports. Now, new details about each call are available including:

Call start time
Call end time
Call duration
Call status (missed or received)
Caller area code

With these new metrics, PPC management experts can not only attribute phone calls to their AdWords campaigns, but also dig a little deeper into those phone calls to understand their effectiveness.